Drew Barrymore steps behind camera for 'Whip It'

Ed Symkus

Friday

Sep 25, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2009 at 11:04 AM

Drew Barrymore is excited. Or maybe she’s just an excitable gal. Getting ready to celebrate her third decade of acting in films (she appeared in “Altered States” two years before charming audiences in “E.T.”), Barrymore has now stepped behind the camera for the first time, to direct the coming-of-age Roller Derby comedy “Whip It."

Drew Barrymore is excited. Or maybe she’s just an excitable gal. Getting ready to celebrate her third decade of acting in films (she appeared in “Altered States” two years before charming audiences in “E.T.”), Barrymore has now stepped behind the camera for the first time, to direct the coming-of-age Roller Derby comedy “Whip It."

Speaking about the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, Barrymore, her blonde hair oddly edged with black, was so happy, she could hardly control her enthusiasm. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if she blurted out, “We had the bestest time making this movie!” But first she had to sing a few praises for Roller Derby.

“I got seriously banged up,” said Barrymore, who also acted as one of the skaters in the film. “We wore our bruises like merit badges. It’s fun for girls to do what boys do, and be rough and tumble-y. This sport is amazing and unique. You can be any age, any physical size. Your economic background, your ethnicity – nothing matters. It’s this really welcoming environment, and to me that’s the kind of party I want to go to. I love Derby; it’s a fantastic sport.”

And she was thrilled to get Ellen Page (“Juno”) to play an aspiring team member, and Marcia Gay Harden (“Mystic River”) to play her disapproving mom.

“I spent a lot of time with the writer (Derby skater Shauna Cross) writing those scenes and trying to bring in personal experiences and moments, and trying to be in touch with what it’s like to be young and want to find your tribe – but you don’t feel like you fit in – and the desire to get it right with your mom, especially if you’re on a different page,” she explained. “I kept thinking of this relationship as an ultimate boxing match, and I wanted the two most awesome heavy hitter bad-ass people to get in the ring, and have a really dynamic dance with each other. So, Ellen Page and Marcia Gay Harden? Are you kidding? This is who I got to work with?”

But Barrymore also said that it is work, that acting and producing and directing all at once is quite a challenge. And she is thankful that she’s paid attention to the process throughout her career.

“I was just a sponge,” she said. “I soaked everything up in my life, and I wanted to wring it out in this movie. I love cinematography, but getting to work with this caliber of actors, and talking about characters and working with performances, and being next to the camera and having inspired, interesting conversations about who these people were, and acting them out and getting ranges of emotions. And all these ideas that we had were so stimulating.”

Of course, directing provides the biggest challenge because everyone else on the set depends on you. Barrymore won’t say that it was a breeze for her, but she certainly was prepared.

“I think the more buttoned up you are, the more homework, the more disciplined you are, it enables you to have more fun because you’ve got all that homework done so you’re able to show up and take the time to really think about the scenes and think about the performances,” she said. “And that’s what’s important – to be a problem solver and have the ability to lead and guide, but also preserve the time to have improv and conversation.”

The directing bug bit her deeply. Barrymore said that the experience changed her forever, that there’s no going back, and that she’s looking forward to the next project she’ll do as a director.

Meanwhile, she finished acting opposite Robert De Niro in the adventure comedy “Everybody’s Fine” and starring with Justin Long in the romantic comedy “Going the Distance.”

Oh, I’m always gonna be an actor,” she said. “I love comedy and I want to do a little bit of everything, so I’ll always be able to put on many, many different hats.”

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